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Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16, ESV).
Yesterday in Interruption #1926, I wrote about the importance of confession. A point I made in that blog post was…
Confession is a part of salvation. Paul writes in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Too often we rely upon confession for eternal life and forget that confessing our sins to one another lies at the core of living an abundant life on earth.
During my research, I came across the following testimony of a person confessing sin to another, and I thought it relevant and encouraging.
Testimony of Confession
I longed for more power to do the work of God. I felt inadequate to deal with many of the desperate needs that confronted me. There had to be more spiritual resources than I was experiencing (and I’d had all the Holy Spirit experiences you’re supposed to have; you name them, I’d had them!). “Lord,” I prayed, “is there more you want to bring into my life? I want to be conquered and ruled by you. If there is anything blocking the flow of your power, reveal it to me.” He did. Not by an audible voice or even through any human voice, but simply by a growing impression that perhaps something in my past was impeding the flow of his life.
So I devised a plan. I divided my life into three periods: childhood, adolescence, adulthood. On the first day I came before God in prayer and meditation, pencil and paper in hand. Inviting him to reveal to me anything during my childhood that needed either forgiveness or healing or both, I waited in absolute silence for some ten minutes. Anything about my childhood that surfaced to my conscious mind, I wrote down. I made no attempt to analyze the items or put any value judgment on them. I did this on three consecutive days — childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. My assurance was that God would reveal anything that needed his healing touch.
Through this process a brother came to mind to which I knew that I needed to confess a sin. I made arrangements with him a week ahead so he understood the purpose of our meeting. Slowly, sometimes painfully, I read a sheet containing my confession, adding only those comments necessary to make the sin clear.
When I had finished, I began to return the paper to my briefcase. Wisely, my counselor/confessor gently stopped my hand and took the sheet of paper. Without a word he took a wastebasket, and, as I watched, he tore the paper into hundreds of tiny pieces and dropped them into it. That powerful, nonverbal expression of forgiveness was symbol of absolution.
My sins, I knew, were as far away as the east is from the west. Next, my friend, with the laying on of hands, prayed a prayer of healing for all the sorrows and hurts of the past. The power of that prayer lives with me today. I am convinced that it set me free in ways I had not known before. I was released to explore what were for me new and uncharted regions of the Spirit.
There was one interesting sidelight. The exposure of my humanity evidently sparked a freedom in my counselor/friend, for, directly following his prayer for me, he was able to express a deep and troubling sin that he had been unable to confess until then. Freedom begets freedom.
Amen and amen!